The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission came away from its huge task with a mixed bag of recommendations. Some of the 15 suggestions the experts revealed Thursday were obvious changes that have been needed for decades. Other recommendations are going to cause heartburn among military service members, retirees and their families, and on Capitol Hill. Federal News Radio Executive Editor Jason Miller tells In Depth with Francis Rose why the commission believes all of them are not only needed, but achievable.

A new analysis based on early media leaks of the Pentagon's 2016 budget request suggests DoD is using Afghanistan as a partial safety valve to once again ease the threat of sequestration. As Federal News Radio's Jared Serbu reports, the data is suggesting a pattern over the past few years.

Public satisfaction with federal agency services is at its lowest point in 16 years, according to the American Consumer Satisfaction Index. That's not a good start to your agency's recruiting efforts. And even if someone passes that mental hurdle and decides to apply for a job at your agency, they then have to get past a bureaucratic gauntlet of a hiring process. Tom Shoop is Editor in Chief at Government Executive magazine. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he shared ways to improve how people get in and out of the federal workforce.

President Barack Obama's budget proposal for fiscal 2016 will call for an end to sequestration. It will include a 7 percent spending increase that totals about $74 billion. Bill Galston, senior fellow and Ezra K. Zilkha chair of the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution, is a former deputy chief domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explains what the White House budget means for your agency.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, President Barack Obama's 2016 budget request will include $1 billion for Native American schools, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) kicked protesters out of a committee hearing Thursday and the military makes data on Afghan National Security Forces classified.

The Pentagon's top IT official told vendors, DoD wants a much closer partnership with commercial technology providers, and it fully intends to move as much of its data as it can into commercially hosted environments. They'll do it as soon as officials figure out how to solve the cybersecurity implications. Federal News Radio DoD reporter Jared Serbu has more.

The Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, John Roth, is raising objections about the alteration of a report from his office about Transportation Security Administration activities at John F Kennedy Airport. Brian Miller is managing director of Navigant, and former inspector general of the General Services Administration. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained whether or not it's common for agencies to change IG reports.

A 10-point plan to protect the country from a looming terror threat is complete. The group Business Executives for National Security are behind the group, and former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz is president of BENS and one of the movers behind the plan. Michael Chertoff is executive chairman and co-founder of the Chertoff Group, and former secretary of the Homeland Security Department. He served as Vice Chairman of the Domestic Security effort. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he reviewed the 10 points.

The next step in the evolution of records management may come from the non-profit sector. And the help will include some people who are pretty experienced with the federal government. Your agency doesn't have to meet its records management obligations by itself. The private sector and nonprofits want to help. Jason Baron is co-chair of the Information Governance Initiative, of counsel for Drinker Biddle, and former director of litigation for the National Archives and Records Administration. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained some solutions for information governance.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith says agencies need to boost their TQ to meet today's digital services demands. A TQ is like someone's IQ, but instead of an Intelligence Quotient, it's a Technical Quotient. Ryan McCullough is vice president and general manager for federal at GovPlace. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained how agencies can improve their IT performance, and for healthcare in particular.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, a new bill would make the details, costs and performance metrics of every federal program more transparent, the Justice Department has pushed back the court dates for thousands of immigrants who are waiting for hearings and an independent panel will recommend changes in the military health and retirement system designed to save $20 billion dollars over the next four years.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith describes the type of people needed to populate the new digital services offices across government in a simple way: TQ. So what kind of person is that? Federal News Radio's Executive Editor Jason Miller describes Smith's formula on In Depth with Francis Rose. Read Jason's related article.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he intends to put acquisition reform language into this year's defense authorization bill. McCain said he's not sure yet what form that language will take but is sure of one thing: The uniformed chiefs of the military services need to be put back into the acquisition chain of command. Federal News Radio DoD Reporter Jared Serbu has the details.

Federal agencies are seeing an explosion in the use of satellite services. A lot of that growth is happening the defense and national security sectors, but it's not all happening there. Mary Davie, the Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Integrated Technology Services at the Federal Acquisition Service at the General Services Administration, writes about the explosion on her Great Government Through Technology blog. Jim Russo is the Network Services 2020 Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions Technical Lead at GSA. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said the DoD connection is important in the satellite category.

Bonuses went to some employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs who later got caught up in the wait time scandal, and other incidents at the agency. The congressman who sponsored the bill that makes it easier to fire SESers at VA wants to go after those bonuses now. Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) is chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said seeing results from the VA Management Accountability Act of 2014 (the firing bill that President Barack Obama signed late last year) won't happen overnight.

The Department of Defense is making another push for an electronic health record system. One factor is interoperability with the system at the Department of Veterans Affairs. EHRs, and a functional, interoperable system, may become a national security asset. Phil Carter is senior fellow and Director of the Military, Veterans & Society Program at the Center for a New American Security. He participated in a CNAS event called A Conversation About Healthcare Technology as a National Security Asset and Improving Outcomes. Dr. Karen Guice -- the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs -- was one of the speakers. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained what his takeaways were from the event.

Friday is the last day of service for Sergeant Major of the Army Ray Chandler. He will retire as the top enlisted man in the Army after nearly 34 years of service. He's the 14th Sergeant Major, and his main job is advisor to Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he shared what thoughts are top-of-mind for him as he prepares to wind down his service.

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on Federal News Radio each day. It is designed to give FederalNewsRadio.com readers more information about the stories heard on the radio. In today's news, the man who flew a drone onto the White House lawn works for the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, health care enrollment is getting closer to the Obama administration's goal and there's a little less gobbledygook coming from the federal government.